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New Fable (2027)

Genre	Open-world action RPG
Developer	Playground Games
Mode	Single-player
Platforms	PC (Steam), Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5
Release date	February 23, 2027 February 18 — early access for Premium Edition owners
Subscription	Xbox Game Pass
Engine	ForzaTech
Languages	English, Chinese, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese

Fable is a remake and reboot of the famous RPG series, developed by Playground Games. Rather than a direct continuation of Lionhead Studios' original trilogy, the game is a reimagining featuring a different version of Albion, familiar elements of the Fable universe, and its own story.

The new Fable will retain the series' key elements: Strength, Skill and Will, choices and their consequences, interaction with the people of Albion, jobs, property ownership, relationships, and its distinctive British humor.

All the latest news about the game can be found in a separate section.

Story and the new canon

The story begins in the small village of Briar Hill. In a moment of danger, the protagonist manifests the powers of a Hero — the first in an entire generation. Soon afterward, a mysterious stranger turns the villagers to stone, leaving the Hero alone and setting them off on a journey across Albion.

One of the important characters is Heroes' Guild leader Humphry Gilded, who is forced to come out of retirement after the appearance of a "mysterious figure" from his past. The Hero will later encounter Isobel, a powerful Hero of the Mire who believes Albion is fundamentally flawed and intends to reshape the world in her own way. The return of Jack of Blades has also been confirmed.

Since Fable represents a new beginning for the series, the history of its world does not fully match the canon of Lionhead's games: some familiar events, characters, and locations have been given a different interpretation.

World and locations

The game will feature a large open world divided into at least six regions. According to the developers, players will be able to travel to any accessible region from the beginning of the adventure.

Locations already shown include Bowerstone, familiar from the previous games, along with its castle and Heroes' Guild, the port town of Bloodstone, and several new areas. One of them is the farming town of Silverbrook, the largest settlement in the Oakshire region. Windmill Hill from the first Fable will also return.

However, familiar names do not mean that these places are identical to their counterparts in the old Albion: the appearance and location of some areas have changed.

Gameplay and choices

Players will be able to choose the Hero's gender and appearance, as well as customize clothing, hairstyle, skin tone, tattoos, and scars. Combat once again revolves around the three traditional Hero disciplines — Strength, Skill, and Will: melee weapons, ranged attacks, and magic.

Choices and reputation will play a major role. Morality is no longer reduced to a simple good-and-evil scale: instead, the Hero's actions shape how the people of Albion perceive them, while some decisions can significantly change the game world. The consequences of certain choices, for example, can persist until the end of the game.

Albion will be populated by more than a thousand handcrafted NPCs with their own occupations, traits, and interests. Players can talk to them, give them gifts, flirt, go on dates, and form relationships.

Other familiar elements of the "Hero's life" will also return, including jobs and the ability to buy homes and businesses. Players will be able to hire employees and set wages and prices. The developers have announced more than 120 shops, while tailors, barbers, and tattooists will offer different selections in different settlements.

The game also features a law system: committing crimes attracts the attention of guards, and a bounty can be placed on the Hero's head. Several difficulty levels will also be available.

Characters and cast

Character	Actor
Hero of Briar Hill	Lily Nichol / Ukweli Roach
Isobel	Hayley Atwell
Humphry Gilded	Matt King
Arden	Susan Wokoma
Dave	Richard Ayoade
Jenny	Natasia Demetriou

Other revealed characters include Jacob, heir to Bloodstone; Connor, the Hero's adoptive brother; the owner of the Rose and Thorn pub and the protagonist's adoptive grandmother; and Nigel, the sheriff of Silverbrook.

Official description

Show full text

Become the Hero you want to be in an immersive open-world action-RPG where each choice shapes your journey, reputation is everything, and fairytale endings are never guaranteed.

A NEW BEGINNING FOR A LEGENDARY FRANCHISE

Fable returns in a stunning reboot of a beloved franchise. As the first Hero in a generation, explore a living Albion filled with peculiar characters, dark humour, and chickens... lots of chickens. This isn’t just nostalgia — it’s a new beginning set in a beautifully vibrant open world.

BE THE HERO YOU WANT TO BE

Customize your Hero’s appearance and wield powerful weapons as you weave melee, ranged, and magical combat. Take on bandits, beasts, and creatures — including brand-new enemies and fan-favorites like Hobbes, Balverines, and Trolls. Your power grows right alongside your reputation.

BUILD AN EXTRAORDINARY LIFE

Beyond all the combat lies a living world where you can carve your own identity. Get filthy rich as a landlord or blacksmith, romance a villager (or three), have a bunch of kids, and watch as your reputation precedes you. Being a Hero is a bit like being a celebrity… if celebrities carried swords and occasionally battled giant fire-breathing chickens.

YOUR CHOICES CHANGE THE WORLD

In Albion, a Hero’s reputation is everything. Your noble deeds and questionable decisions affect your relationship with each villager and can even shape the world around you. Whose opinion matters most? The choice is yours… and so are the consequences. It’s up to you to decide what it means to be a Hero.

Fairytale Ending Not Guaranteed.

Editions and DLC

In addition to the Standard Edition, Fable will receive two expanded editions. A separate set of pre-order bonuses will also be available.

Pre-order Content Pack

• Chicken Suit;
• three in-game items.

Premium Edition

• five days of early access;
• two additional armor sets;
• digital artbook and soundtrack;
• Order of the Hero DLC;
• nine in-game gifts.

Collector's Edition

• everything included in the Premium Edition;
• Jack of Blades statue;
• physical art book;
• SteelBook case;
• Guild Seal lapel pin.

Order of the Hero will be available on the same day as the base game. The expansion will add a new region and a story about an ancient cult hidden in Albion.

System requirements

Minimum

• 64-bit processor and operating system;
• OS: Windows 10 22H2;
• processor: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 / Intel i7‐6850K / i5‐10400;
• memory: 12 GB RAM;
• graphics: AMD Radeon RX 6600 / NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 / Intel A580;
• DirectX: version 12;
• storage: 135 GB;
• SSD required.

Development history

Announcement, early development, and background

After the release of Fable 3, players spent almost a decade not knowing whether the main series would ever continue. During this period, numerous unconfirmed rumors suggested that Fable 4 might be in development, while the closure of Lionhead Studios in 2016 made the future of the franchise even more uncertain.

Everything changed in July 2020, when Microsoft officially announced a new Fable from Playground Games. The game's first teaser trailer was shown at Xbox Games Showcase 2020.

In May 2021, it was revealed that the game was being developed using the ForzaTech engine, previously used by Playground Games for the Forza Horizon series.

Former Playground developer Gavin Raeburn later revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic affected the project during its early development. Playground was working on Forza Horizon 5 at the same time, forcing the studio to delay building the Fable team. Some of Horizon's development leads later moved over to the new RPG.

Playground is not developing Fable alone: Eidos Montreal, Third Kind Games, and Blizzard Cinematics have also contributed to the project. Blizzard Cinematics is helping create the game's cinematics.

First showcases

Three years after the announcement, in June 2023, Playground showed the first major trailer at Xbox Games Showcase 2023, featuring gameplay footage. One of the trailer's central characters was the giant Dave.

On June 9, 2024, Xbox Games Showcase officially confirmed that the new Fable was planned for release in 2025. A new trailer featuring gameplay footage was also shown, and several new screenshots appeared on the game's Xbox Store page soon afterward.

In November 2024, journalist Jez Corden said he had seen an alpha build of the game. According to him, it looked "fantastic" and was reminiscent of The Witcher 3 in some respects. In December, he also claimed that Fable's development had become "monstrously expensive".

First delay: from 2025 to 2026

On February 25, 2025, Xbox Game Studios head Craig Duncan announced that Fable had been delayed from 2025 to 2026. According to Duncan, Playground wanted to give the game more development time.

At the same time, Microsoft showed around 50 seconds of pre-alpha footage, the first new gameplay footage in quite some time. It featured Bowerstone, horseback riding, fights against a cockatrice, Hobbes, and a Balverine, as well as the series' traditional chicken-kicking.

Fall 2026 and Developer Direct

On January 22, 2026, Fable received its first major deep dive at Xbox Developer Direct. The developers dedicated 12 minutes to the game and discussed its story, open world, reputation system, NPCs, choices, property ownership, and other mechanics in detail.

A more specific release window was also announced for the first time: Fable was scheduled to launch in fall 2026 simultaneously on PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5. This placed the release around Xbox's 25th anniversary.

In subsequent interviews, game director Ralph Fulton revealed additional details about the project. Among other things, he confirmed that Fable is not a direct continuation of the original trilogy but a new beginning for the series, discussed the new morality system and more than a thousand handcrafted NPCs, and explained why the game will not feature a dog.

Second delay: to 2027

On May 29, 2026, less than six months before its planned fall release, Microsoft delayed Fable again — this time to February 2027. Xbox explained that it wanted to choose a more suitable release window for the game, while stressing that development was in good shape.

A week later, on June 7, a new three-minute trailer was shown at Xbox Games Showcase 2026. The developers announced the final release date — February 23, 2027, while also revealing new story details, the cast, the game's editions, and its first expansion, Order of the Hero.

On June 10, Playground Games released another 30 minutes of gameplay footage. The video offered the first detailed look at the village of Silverbrook, the interface, dialogue system, relationships with residents, jobs, business management, reputation, and how guards react to crimes.

Follow further development in our new Fable news section.